"The President has directed that Dr. (Smt.) Kamla shall cease to hold the office of the Governor of Mizoram," a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique said tonight, exactly a month after she was shifted to Aizwal from Ahmedabad. Governor of Manipur VK Duggal has been asked to discharge the functions of the Governor of Mizoram until regular arrangements are made, the communique said. The sacking order brings to an end the gubernatorial tenure of 87-year-old Congress leader from Rajasthan who battled with the Modi government over the appointment of Lokayukta and some legislations during her tenure in Gujarat.

Beniwal had frosty relations with Modi when he was chief minister of Gujarat, over the appointment of Lokayukta and some legislations. The 87-year-old governor's tenure was due to end in November. During her confrontation with Modi, Beniwal appointed retired Justice RA Mehta as Lokayukta in Gujarat against which the state went in appeal to the High Court and later the Supreme Court which upheld it last year. However, it was another story that Justice Mehta did not take up the post and Modi's government named a new nominee. Beniwal also sat over legislations passed by the state Assembly one of which provided for 50% reservation for women in local bodies. Read more

Earlier this week, the Gujarat Raj Bhawan records had reportedly revealed that Beniwal used the state aircraft to travel extensively during her tenure. In the last three years, Beniwal flew out of Gujarat 63 times, mostly to her hometown Jaipur, between 2011 and 2014, media reports suggested.

Beniwal was first appointed as Governor of Tripura in October, 2009 the first woman to be appointed as governor in the Northeast. However, a month later she was appointed as Gujarat Governor. Beniwal is the second Governor to be sacked after the removal of Puducherry Lt Governor Virendra Kataria. Soon after the Modi Government assumed office, some Governors were forced to resign while a few a resisted and are still in office. Interestingly, another Congress leader Margaret Alva appointed by the UPA government was allowed to conclude her tenure in Jaipur yesterday.

ALSO READ: Prime Minister Modi, is this good governance?
On the day BJP released its manifesto back in April 2014, Narendra Modi said something that made everyone sit up and take notice. “I promise I will never do anything for myself, I will never be vindictive,” the would-be prime minister announced. This comment came after Amit Shah's controversial 'badla' comment in Muzaffarnagar. One of the biggest fears perpetuated about Modi as Prime Minister in the media as well as in liberal intellectual circles was his alleged 'mean streak'. Modi is a great administrator but he doesn’t forget or forgive, was the theme of discussion in many liberal coteries. Congress tried its best to use the 2002 Gujarat riots to attack the current Prime Minister. The biggest fear was, and some would suggest still is, the aggressive saffronisation of India. But what made opponents of Modi more sceptical was the aura around this man who allegedly uses every trick in the book to get back at his ‘enemies’. Critics say he has done this in Gujarat with former chief minister Keshubhai Patel, his own home minister Haren Pandya and of course, former RSS pracharak Sanjay Joshi. But then some would say all these are political moves and cannot be attributed to vindictive politics. Read more

Transfer of Governor Kamla Beniwal is vindictive, alleges Shankarsinh Vaghela
Leader of the Opposition in Gujarat assembly and senior Congress leader Shankarsinh Vaghela today termed the transfer of Governor Kamla Beniwal as a "vindictive" step. According to Vaghela, the transfer was an "insult" to the Governor's post. "She was tranferred in a very insulting manner. This is a punishment transfer becasue the state of Mizoram is smaller than many of our districts. This shows the mentality of BJP," Vaghela told reporters. "If she was already set to retire in November, then why was she is removed now? This is a case of vindictive transfer because she stalled several bills of Gujarat government. To take revenge on Lokayukta appointment issue, BJP has transferred her," Vaghela said. He said even a peon gets better treatment than the way the Governor was treated. Read more